How many of the BBC top 100 books have you read?

[Bluemooninmyeyes1]

I came across this list yesterday and I’m ashamed to say I’ve only read about 15 and most of them are the Roald Dhal books and Harry Potter I’ve obviously read more than 15 books in my life but they just don’t appear on this list! I’m making a conscious effort to read more classics this year.

How many have you read?

www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml

25

37

21 and a couple I started but didn't finish

Some odd choices on there. Some definitely missing. Do I get a brucie bonus because I actually have ready Ulysses (all of it)?

I don't find it odd considering it's from 2003 and it's a list of 'best loved' books (as opposed to those with literary merit for example)
Considering that it's pretty much what I expect 🤔

About 33.. Mostly because I love Terry Pratchett.

Another few are on my shelves in the TBR collection.

25. What a crappy list though.

Only 13! And I do like reading, I'm just not that into classics I guess.

49

61 that I clearly remember. Ulysses is not one. I've tried but failed several times.
What an odd list.

54 but a few only forced to read at school. It is an odd list and having read all the Harry Potter and Disk World books helps a lot.

The ' forced to read at school' thing is why I can't remember if I've read some of them or not. Especially when coupled with a vague recollection of a cinema visit to see a film version. (God, those poor teachers who drew the short straw for Shakespeare adaptations with a class of St Trinian's wannabes ...)

90. I haven't read the Jacqueline Wilsons....I studied Russian at uni so have read War and Peace in English and Russian, so perhaps that makes up for the missing 10 🤣

All of them except Jacqueline Wilson and I couldn't finish the awful Follett book. But I don't have a life. I just read.

I have read 42.

Never read any of the Harry potters.

58

@donquixotedelamancha

That list is from 2003 though, and has an awful lot of Terry Pratchett on it

You say that like it's a bad thing!

a half if you include Ulysses which I never finished while at uni

Like Proust and Rushdie I don't believe anyone has ever read James Joyce's masterpiece to the end. I recon someone claimed they were brilliant once and everyone just went along with it.

Started and given up on 6 of them including Lord of the Rings

Try again. As soon as you see the words 'Tom Bombadil' jump ahead by 40 pages.

45 BTW.

I like Terry Pratchett, I just think there's a disproportionate number of his on there.

52 - not sure I agree with the list though!

@ThatIsNotMyUsername

Some odd choices on there. Some definitely missing. Do I get a brucie bonus because I actually have ready Ulysses (all of it)?

Yes, and also the additional masochism bonus for having willingly endured it (assuming you werent forced at gunpoint in some sort of traumatic hostage situation).

52. Being an English teacher most I have studied or taught. Love the Victorian lit but not a huge fan of a lot on it.

I have read 50 and started a few more but not liked them including Harry Potter. I remember reading the first 13 Terry Pratchett books. I’m a big fan of Dickens as was my Father whose first language was not English, he took me on a pilgrimage to Dickens birthplace when I was about 11 and bought me a copy of Oliver Twist, happy times.

63, but the list is very odd.

46 for me. Although I included the Donna Tartt one which I didn’t finish as it’s so dire.

I remember reading this list before, I agree it’s very odd indeed. I’ve read all the Terry Pratchett ones, for example - but why are they all on there separately?

I have read barely any of the classics mentioned.

@lifeturnsonadime

63, but the list is very odd.

It is!

It's such an odd mix of stuff the majority of the public really have read (hence Pratchett and Archer) and stuff they feel they ought to have read (I can see Ulysses getting into a list of top 100 great novels selected for literary merit, but top 100 favourite novels, or even most widely read novels? Not buying that for a moment).

Also - reading a book and enjoying it/ following what’s going on are very different things. Definitely some oss-ball ones on there and some howling gaps.